"CHOOSE....choose, and perish..." (DP-03 vs DP-006 vs DP-008)

[shredd]

Hi gang...forgive me if this is a sto0pid topic or wasting time. I browsed this entire forum category for people posting on this, & didn't see anything (or missed it???).

I've been using older-technology portables of various makes...and while most are good - some are great - they're not playing nice with my current-technology gear - in particular, getting tracks I've recorded out of them, and into a computer, to transfer to my DP-32 projects via Audio Depot.

I'm looking to get a current-technology compact portable, and am doing an A/B (really an A/B/C) with Tascam's DP-03 vs DP-006 vs DP-008.

I'd be interested in anything anyone wants to post about the pro's, con's, strengths and weaknesses of any of these.

Even Giulherme - who posted about getting his '008 to be an 008EX - I don't even know what that means.

I need some education'...help a fella out???

PS - bonus points if you can name source of the title of this post...

 

[shredd]

UPDATE:
As I go through the different units, I'm starting to consider eliminating the '006 from contention. No XLR inputs (my mobile needs will at least occasionally include having a stereo track - a' la backing track - on it, for someone to do vox to).
And I'm gonna want good tracks - via a decent mic - not sung into the onboard mic's...am I wrong here???

 

[-mjk-]

Before you discount built-in mics, you should demo some of the recorders if you can. My zoom mics rival large capsule condenser sounds on some things.

 

[ButchA]

"Freewill" by Rush was probably the concept behind the title in the thread.

"You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill"

Although I own a DP-03SD, I greatly admire the larger DP24 and DP32 units (although my budget wouldn't allow it). The onboard condenser mics are okay, but nothing beats a real live external Shure SM57 instrument mic. The 24 and 32 series offer way more tracks and tracks and tracks without ever having to bounce.

 

[dctdct]

One filter for your choice might be: supports battery operation Y/N.
This was my decision against the DP-03SD with better layout (sliders vs knobs, slightly bigger form factor). The DP-008EX (with similar functionalities) won my case, because it is battery operable.

 

[shredd]

"Freewill" by Rush was probably the concept behind the title in the thread.

"You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill"

"Close but no guitar" (w/credit to Gene Simmons).
Correct answer gets you backstage passes to "America's Got Talent" dress-rehearsal taping...
EDIT: Never mind. Only maroons like me have time for these kewtsy games. And you'd have to be as OLD as I am to even remember!!!
Answer is HERE.

Although I own a DP-03SD, I greatly admire the larger DP24 and DP32 units (although my budget wouldn't allow it). The onboard condenser mics are okay, but nothing beats a real live external Shure SM57 instrument mic. The 24 and 32 series offer way more tracks and tracks and tracks without ever having to bounce.

I freekin' LOVE my big-capacity MTR's - I had all three iterations of the 2488, and now the DP-32.
I started with small units - I owned several Fostex MR-8xx's...they're fine for what they do, but what I found was that I was laying down my 4 tracks, then you have to "bounce" them to the master/stereo pair, to "free up" the first 4.
That means that one you've recorded those 4 trax, decided on reverb, panning, level, etc, and do the bounce...IT'S DONE and can't be changed. So when you end up adding new trax, they often don't play nice together.

I have some pretty rough-edged projects that at the time, I considered "finished" - but were so badly done, that many were re-done once I had enough tracks to work with, and get a good finished mix. See my SoundClick page for a couple of "remasters" I did. And I have others where I don't even have individual tracks for...I'd haveta do them all over.
Which I've considered...I have a few songs I wrote that I consider decent material, even if I was too young, stupid/inexperienced,, and ill-equipped to bring to fruition.
Now that I'm OLD, stupid, and better-equipped, maybe they'd come out better???

I kind of agree about the mic's thing: the onboard mic's are good for capturing ideas, doing "scratch trax", whatever...but for a finished-quality track I'd put into my main-studio projects...not good enough. So I require XLR in's - at least one!

 

[shredd]

Before you discount built-in mics, you should demo some of the recorders if you can. My zoom mics rival large capsule condenser sounds on some things.

As usual, MJ is the smart one around here.
That's EXACTLY what I'd like to do - give any/all of these units a quick test-drive and see which works for my needs/work-flow/intentions.

Problem is...I live in the middle of nowhere. There's herds of sheep around here with higher intelligence than most of the people.
And not a music store of any kind within primal-screaming distance...so I don't have the opportunity to even SEE one of these, or ask questions...let alone demo one, even standing in the store.

This is why I'm pestering YOU GUYS!!!

I imagine that Zoom H2n of yours does do a pretty nice job - I looked it up, and it's very impressive. But those tiny, BB-size condensers that are "on-board" these small MTR units are (in my mind...) fully suitable for capturing ideas/"scratch-tracking", but not for finished tracks.

 

[Mark Richards]

give any/all of these units a quick test-drive...not a music store of any kind within primal-screaming distance...

You might want to give the folks at Sweetwater a call. The pro sales staff are audio engineers and musicians; their whole focus is on helping to get the right gear into the right hands. Maybe you could work something out. Can't hurt to ask.

 

[shredd]

give the folks at Sweetwater a call

Very likely. I've been a S/W'r guy for 10+ years, and they ALWAYS take care of me...my "sales engineer" guy is ossum - like you said, a musician himself, and very knowledgable.
But...truth...I hassle him enough with relentless dumazz questions about gear, so I thought I'd torment YOU guyz for a while...

Plus - I know everyone here is SUPER tuned-into Tascam gear in particular...so I wanted to pick brains. It's looking like the choice is coming down to either DP-03SD or DP-008EX...kiiiiinda leaning toward '008EX.

So if ANNNNNYONE wants to chime in with their likes/dislikes, pro's/con's, ANYTHING, I'm ALL EARS!!!

 

[shredd]

supports battery operation Y/N.
This was my decision against the DP-03SD with better layout (sliders vs knobs, slightly bigger form factor). The DP-008EX (with similar functionalities) won my case, because it is battery operable.

Absolutely.
I always wanna think that if I'm gonna go somewhere to get someone to lay down a track for me, there'll be an outlet nearby.
But that ain't always so, right? And maybe sometime I'mma gonna need the ability to have someone plug in and play a track where there ISN'T power. So - battery operation = good...

Speaking for myself: I haven't yet figured out why the DP-03 is better then the '008EX, despite the faders (instead of knobs)...the feature set/capabilities seem very similar - but the '03 is MUCH bigger, and costs more...
I DEFinitely need experienced user's input on this..."Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Beuller?"

 

[-mjk-]

@shredd said:

I imagine that Zoom H2n of yours does do a pretty nice job - I looked it up, and it's very impressive. But those tiny, BB-size condensers that are "on-board" these small MTR units are (in my mind...) fully suitable for capturing ideas/"scratch-tracking", but not for finished tracks.

The H2N has 4 mics and what I like about it for a field recorder is that is can record X/Y and M/S simultaneously on 2 stereo files. Some of the Tascam units have a type of dual recording system where they record an identical track but at a lower level to avoid clipping if something unexpected happens. Some units have XLR combo connectors. There is a lot to consider but remember, one of the smallest condenser mics in the world is very small. My Zoom has small capsules but they are about the same size as the AKG C451.

As usual, MJ is the smart one around here.
That's EXACTLY what I'd like to do - give any/all of these units a quick test-drive and see which works for my needs/work-flow/intentions.

A lot of people on the forum know way more than I do about portable recorders! I think that Mark has the call - Sweetwater will be able to help you with the decision making process.

 

[ButchA]

Absolutely.
I always wanna think that if I'm gonna go somewhere to get someone to lay down a track for me, there'll be an outlet nearby.
But that ain't always so, right? And maybe sometime I'mma gonna need the ability to have someone plug in and play a track where there ISN'T power. So - battery operation = good...

Speaking for myself: I haven't yet figured out why the DP-03 is better then the '008EX, despite the faders (instead of knobs)...the feature set/capabilities seem very similar - but the '03 is MUCH bigger, and costs more...
I DEFinitely need experienced user's input on this..."Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Beuller?"

The 008EX can run on 4AA batteries. The DP-03SD cannot.
The DP-03SD has onboard 2-band EQ right there in front of you. The 008-EX kind of has EQ somewhere, but from what I've read, you have to fiddle with menu screens to find it.
Both have the same inputs/outputs, condenser mics, etc... One just has sliders vs knobs and is bigger and a pound or two heavier.

Compare TASCAM DP-008EX vs TASCAM DP-03SD | B&H Photo (bhphotovideo.com)

 

[dctdct]

Speaking for myself: I haven't yet figured out why the DP-03 is better then the '008EX, despite the faders (instead of knobs)...the feature set/capabilities seem very similar - but the '03 is MUCH bigger, and costs more...
I DEFinitely need experienced user's input on this..."Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Beuller?"

For the recording use, I don't see any important functional PLUS for the DP-03 against the DP-008EX, as already mentioned.

But if you dive deeper into the functions, you will come across some differences. AFAIK there are only these three functional differencies:

DP-03SD

1. have up to 999 location markers per song, additionally to the IN/OUT flags
   
2. have no dynamic FX on input stage
3. have only manual mastering procedure

DP-008EX

1. have only IN/OUT flags
   
2. have 3 concurrent dynamic FX (compressor, exciter, de-esser) on input stage
3. have also automatic mastering procedures

Now decide

 

[shredd]

AFAIK there are only these three functional differencies

THANX dood...that's just the kind of feedback I'm looking for - people who have/use these things, and notice these differences. I can read a manual for hours, and still miss details that in practice are actually really important!

The biggies to me are the markers (they're nice to have, though I can live without them, I think)...and the input FX are pretty nice to have. Points for the '008EX.

I DID notice via Butch's comparison link that the '03 does have slightly better audio-quality specs (S/N, THD, yada) AND has better EQ capabilities. Other than that - pretty close...other than the size and layout/interface. And I'm going for minimalist/easy-peasey.
If anyone has experienced unsatisfactory trax from the '008's cuz of their audio specs, I'd like to hear about that...

At this point, at least - I'm sorta leaning the '008EX way...just reading manuals, trying to figure out if the '03 has anything I'd miss or need...

THNX again!!!

 

[Brody]

Hi shredd — sounds like you have no reason for the DP-03. Which is what I have. I use it for “serious” recording (which not serious at all) but in my experience you won’t have any issues getting tracks out of it for transfer to some other recording environment. You can have a file on it with 8 tracks of audio and export them in a single operation out to 8 individual WAV files then you just connect a USB cable and copy them to your computer (or eject the SD card and load that on your computer).

I will assume from what others said that the DP-008 and its variants also have such capability.

I do this as a matter of backup hygiene: export a master mix to a single WAV file, export the “backup” of the whole session, and export all 8 individual tracks to WAV files. Then copy to a computer and another external hard drive. I feel pretty assured that I’ll never lose the ability to remix a song, particularly because I’ve had some of the songs I’ve recorded on my DP-03 get radio airplay.

 

[shredd]

sounds like you have no reason for the DP-03

Having chewed this over and researched endlessly for a couple of weeks now...I'm inclined to agree - the '03 might just be a bit of overkill for my very modest needs/intentions for my portable unit, while the '008EX will do the trick - in a smaller and less costly package.

I don't do any "real" recording/studio work on a portable - it's strictly to noodle/fool around and grab snatches of ideas out of the blue (without having the full studio up & running), and the occasional where I wanna go to someone's house/work/whatever and get a quick take of a bass line, a vocal, whatever.

Thanks ALL for your input!!!

 

[Guilherme]

One filter for your choice might be: supports battery operation Y/N.
This was my decision against the DP-03SD with better layout (sliders vs knobs, slightly bigger form factor). The DP-008EX (with similar functionalities) won my case, because it is battery operable.

I agree, I love the portability to use the recorder with batteries.

 

[shredd]

Before you discount built-in mics, you should demo some of the recorders if you can. My zoom mics rival large capsule condenser sounds on some things.

A little update, AIAC:
My operating stable of small/portable MTR's currently includes the BOSS BR-800, and Tascam DP-03SD and a Tascam DP-008 (which I did the 008->008EX hack to - works OSSUM...).

But the news is: @-mjk- was dead right. The built-in condensers on these are MORE than serviceable, especially for basic scratch-recording or room recording. The ones on the DP-03 are especially good.
I'd dare say an external mic would only be necessary for studio-quality recording (and only if the mic's you use are BETTER than the built-ins!).

 

[-mjk-]

I once did a test on a mobile phone live stream using the USB interface on my Zoom H2N. Wow. I had the Zoom in 4 channel surround mode and the stereo field in the audio was incredible.

 

[scott123]

[QUOTE="I feel pretty assured that I’ll never lose the ability to remix a song, particularly because I’ve had some of the songs I’ve recorded on my DP-03 get radio airplay.[/QUOTE]

Hi ... I realize this thread is somewhat old, but I'd love to hear the songs you've recorded on the DP-03 that got radio play. I'm always interested in what other people have done. ... I'm also in the same boat as Shredd ... while I have a 2488 Neo, and a Tascam DP01-FX (and a couple cassette 4-Tracks) .... I'm also looking at those two recorders he mentioned. I keep going back and forth myself. .... Anyway I'd love to hear those songs .... gotta a link?